Can the Mets get the band back together (without K-Rod)?

So I took a week off from the blog, for a couple of reasons. One, after the Subway Series the Mets went to the West Coast and, frankly, I can barely stay awake to watch the games than blog about them afterwards. Plus, we were away for most of that week, and then there was the All-Star break, so I figured I'd just take a breather and come back with a post after the midsummer classic with a look toward what the second half of the season could bring.

I didn't have to wait long for the first gift.

Within an hour of the conclusion of the All-Star game (won by the NL), the Mets dealt Francisco Rodriguez to the Brewers for cash (later reported to be $5 million, or what he's owed the rest of this season) and two players to be named later.

This shocked absolutely no one since we all knew there was no way the Mets would be paying K-Rod his $17 million salary next season, which would kick in once he finished 21 more games. Sandy Alderson did what he had to do, and dumped the salary, and really, if either of the two prospects the Mets pick up ever make the big-league club it would be a bonus.

So next year's payroll will not include the $17M for K-Rod, nor the $19 million made by Carlos Beltran, nor the $12M for Ollie Perez nor the $6M for Luis Castillo. That's $54 million. Considering the payroll this season was around $138 million, that's a huge reduction.

Think $7-8 million of that could go to Jose Reyes? Yeah, we think so.

The K-Rod deal doesn't raise the white flag on the season in that everyone knew K-Rod was going at some point, and the Mets do have a couple of possible closers in Bobby Parnell and Jason Isringhausen (we're thinking Izzy to Parnell is the way to go, if only because we'll find out whether Parnell really has the stuff to close).

Is Beltran next? It's likely, but with David Wright and Jose Reyes coming back in a week, it would be nice to see whether this team can hang in there. At 7 1/2 games out of the wild card with 71 games left, there's still plenty of time and plenty of fight left in the dog. And it seems that there is a chance that Ike Davis could be back, and then maybe Santana in August. The Brewers are going for it, and they're just 2 1/2 games ahead of the Mets. Fans (this one at least) aren't ready to concede anything just yet.

The team is on the precipice, though, and it will be a challenge to win the series against the Phillies as shorthanded as they are. Certainly, Alderson has to think long term, and dealing K-Rod and possibly Beltran, who will not be back in 2012, are moves for the future.

But we're still in the present. Terry Collins, like coach Norman Dale in "Hoosiers," doesn't worry about who's not in the lineup. His teams compete regardless of who's starting.

"My team is on the floor."

That team hasn't had Davis or Wright in a long while and has been surviving without Reyes for more than a week and they are still in the mix. Can we let this team play it out? Sure, we could get a couple of players for Beltran, but no top prospects for a rental.

Why not let Beltran honor the rest of his contract and enjoy his final resurgent year in Flushing, and see what happens when the band is back together?

Again, 71 games left. Nine against the Braves and six of those at home.

Collins has talked all season about guys getting the opportunity to show something. Turner and Murphy have taken advantage. Parnell is about to. The Mets as a team can do the same.

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Just a note about the video up top. I wanted to use the scene from "The Blues Brothers" where they tell Mr. Fabulous at the Chez Paul that they're getting the band back together, but that and most other clips from the movie on YouTube have embedding disabled. So I found this one, which is a great song, but you'll notice at the end that it was recorded off the TV in some foreign language (Spanish or Italian, I think).

No help: Omar, Wilpons abandon Manuel, players

There is this assumption that by doing nothing to add to the roster, the Mets are sealing Jerry Manuel's fate as manager, and that his firing at the end of what could be another playoff-less season is a done deal.

First of all, if you don't think he's doing a good job, fire him now.

Second, the man whose fate you'd think would be sealed is Omar Minaya. He's done nothing to help the team in-season in his entire tenure, but especially this season, when the need for another starter was so obvious for so long. Manuel and even some players, like David Wright, made it known that they could use the help.

But Omar is being a good soldier by insisting he has the green light to make a deal when ownership has probably told him that he can't add any more salary. And he can't release Oliver Perez because he's making so much money, and ownership can't swallow paying someone that much for not contributing. Not that he's contributing now, anyway.

Omar is just doing what he's told, so presumably he'll be protected.

That leaves Manuel stuck with the players he has, and that list includes two guys off the DL, one of whom is ice cold (Beltran) and one who everyone outside the locker room apparently hates (Castillo -- although he started to hit against Atlanta), two players who were cold and are now hurt (Bay and Barajas), the hot-and-cold Francoeur, a rookie in Ike Davis, and a weak bench.

Only Reyes, Wright and Pagan have been dependable, and even there, Reyes hasn't been playing up to his own level, and Wright has had brutal cold streaks (he's started another one).

Angel Pagan has been the team's best player, by far, except for maybe R.A. Dickey. That says a lot.

The real culprit with this team is ownership. The Wilpons spend money, no doubt. No one foresaw Jason Bay going a whole season without getting hot, and having this drastic a power loss. They've paid big bucks for free agents before, so you can't call them cheap.

But this season, after a lost season due to injury last year, and after two seasons of bitter collapses, ownership had the opportunity to win back the fans who could no longer stomach the situation and have started to stay away.

Yes, they added all the nice Mets-y touches like the Hall of Fame and moved the apple and added big photos of old Mets. Great.

But what fans really want is an ownership that is willing to fund changes necessary to allow the team to compete and to win. That has not happened.

Instead, we get reports that the Wilpons lost a ton of money to Bernie Madoff and that has affected the ballcub, something they have denied again and again.

But the proof is in the pudding, and despite many opportunities to do something to help the team — whether it's throwing money to the wind and cutting Perez for the good of the club, or acquiring needed talent — management has done nothing.

That's on the owners, who aren't going anywhere.

Omar is just taking orders, so he's safe.

That leaves Manuel, who like many managers before him and many who will come after, as the scapegoat. When, in fact, almost none of what has troubled this team is his fault. (You want to question his moves, fine, but you'll have those questions with pretty much any manager you bring in.)

Wednesday night's error-filled loss doesn't reflect well on Manuel, but he's not the one throwing balls away, or missing the strike zone, or hitting batters, or failing to hit. The players are well aware of their situation and are trying — probably too hard — but they're just not executing.

A third of the season remains, with a lot of home games and games against teams like Houston and Pittsburgh. The Phillies are battered, and despite winning the Mets series the Braves have shown signs of coming back to earth (10-10 since the break). The Mets, warts and all, are better than their 6-14 record since the All-Star game.

But the reality is that nothing is going to happen to fix what is broken and the inertia comes from the top. Ownership can't spend money, so management can't make changes, so the roster stays the same, flaws and all.

That leaves it up to the players in the room and Manuel to beat the odds and somehow find a way to put it all together in the final 54 games.

Can it happen? If you believe that the players who have underperformed can rebound down the stretch, then, yes, it is possible.

Ya gotta believe. Because there's nothing else to count on.

Being a Mets fan means testing your faith

I took my son to 5 o'clock Mass on Saturday, less than an hour after watching Willie Harris kill the Mets with a ridiculous catch for what seemed like the 63rd time. I like the Saturday evening Mass because it means not having to get up early on Sunday, and this particular one was timely, as the language I used in the immediate aftermath of the Harris catch was decidedly un-Christian.

The gospel in this first weekend after Easter concerned the disciple Thomas, who wasn't around when the resurrected Jesus first appeared before the other disciples. When Thomas returned, the disciples told him what had just happened, and of course Thomas did not believe them (hence the term, Doubting Thomas). After all, Thomas had seen Jesus crucified and buried in a tomb. He must have thought his friends were either still in terrible mourning and therefore not thinking straight, trying to pull a fast one on him, or high on frankincense.

He told them he would believe it when he could stick his fingers in Jesus' wounds.

A week later, Jesus returned again to the disciples, and this time Thomas was there. Jesus invited the chastened Thomas to touch his wounds, and then said, "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet still believe."

Now I know I should have been focused on what the priest was saying and not thinking about baseball, and I don't mean to compare Mets fandom to religion or the return of Jose Reyes to the resurrection of Jesus Christ (although this was Jose's first game back), but having just seen the Mets lose yet another heartbreaker, I took the message of the gospel and immediately applied it to my feelings as a Mets fan.

We have not seen much this season, just six out of 162 games, but as fans we want to believe that our team has what it takes to compete. And while there are plenty of Doubting Thomases out there, in the stands and in the media, it is our nature as fans -- or at least, it is in my nature -- to believe in the players and coaches, the manager and the organization.

I don't see how you can be a fan and not believe, at this point in the season. Maybe when the evidence becomes so overwhelming and the numbers don't lie -- like last season, when every player with any talent when down with an injury -- do you concede that it just isn't our year. But one week into April is a little early to panic, and yet there will be plenty of fans willing to jump off the bandwagon while the engine is still cold.

Being a fan means having your faith tested, like when the ace of your staff walks two batters and gives up a first-inning grand slam while your hitters are befuddled by a guy throwing in the 70s (who also happens to be a former teammate). It's times like these when you want to throw your new cream-and pinstripe Jason Bay jersey into the fireplace.

But you're a fan, and you believe. It's a long, long season. And while the Mets started 2-4 at home, we have seen some positive signs. Jeff Francoeur and Rod Barajas have pounded the ball, Mike Pelfrey looked very good in his first start, Jon Niese appears ready to step up, and the maligned bullpen, with new blood, has been pretty solid. And, of course, Reyes is back.

Do the questions surrounding the starting pitching remain? Absolutely. And the Mets now embark on a tough road trip through Colorado and St. Louis before returning for a 10-game homestand. We'll learn a lot more about this team in those next 16 games, and then we'll get to the point that Jerry Manuel has been referring to when asked if the Mets need a fast start. "Talk to me after 20 games," he's said. Well, after that homestand, it will have been 22 games, not quite a seventh of the season, but a fair enough barometer.

Until then, we gotta believe.